MEaSUREs Projects at the GES DISC

NASA, through its Earth Science Data Systems, supports the NASA Earth Science research community by providing Earth science data products and services driven by NASAs Earth Science goals. NASAs Earth Science Program is dedicated to advancing Earth remote sensing and pioneering the scientific use of satellite measurements to improve human understanding of our home planet, in order to inform economic and policy decisions and improve operational services of benefit to the Nation. Through the MEaSUREs Program, NASA is continuing its commitment to expand understanding of the Earth system using consistent records. NASA has begun to deploy new types of sensors to provide three-dimensional perspectives of Earths atmosphere and surface. Emphasis is on linking together multiple satellites into a constellation, developing the means for using a multitude of data sources to form coherent time-series, and facilitating the use of extensive data in the development of comprehensive Earth system models.

As part of the ROSES-2006 announcement, MEaSUREs proposals were solicited to focus on the creation of Earth System Data Records (ESDRs), including Climate Data Records. An ESDR is defined as a unified and coherent set of observations of a given parameter of the Earth system, which is optimized to meet specific requirements for addressing science questions. These records are critical for understanding Earth System processes; for the assessment of variability, long-term trends, and change in the Earth System; and for providing input and validation means to modeling efforts. The solicitation resulted in the selection in October 2007 of 30 projects for funding.

MEaSUREs Projects at the GES DISC

Select a MEaSUREs program from the list and it will display the data information and access methods for the data products available by that program.

Select Project:

Reprocessing and Goddard Satellite-based Surface Turbulent Fluxes (GSSTF) Data Set for Global Water and Energy Cycle Research

Creating a Long Term Multi-Sensor Ozone Data Record

Consistent Long-Term Aerosol Data Records over Land and Ocean from SeaWIFS

A Multi-Sensor Water Vapor Climate Data Record Using Cloud Classification

Developing Consistent Earth System Data Records for the global terrestrial water cycle

Project Information

Project Title: Reprocessing and Goddard Satellite-based Surface Turbulent Fluxes (GSSTF2c) Data Set for Global Water and Energy Cycle Research

PI Name: Chung-Lin Shie

Project Description: The objective of this project is to continually produce a uniform data set of sea surface turbulent fluxes derived from remote sensing data and analysis that have been and continue to be useful for global energy and water flux research and applications. This product is useful for diagnos ing the global water and energy cycle and hence can contribute to the goals of NASA Energy and Water Cycle Study (NEWS) and World Climate Research Progra m (WCRP)/Global Energy and Water Experiment (GEWEX). Model climate simulations show an enhanced hydrologic cycle, which must be corroborated with observa tions. The daily temporal and one-degree spatial resolution of the product can be used to examining climate variability at these scales. Oceanic evaporat ion contributes to the net fresh water input to the oceans and drives the upper ocean density structure and consequently the circulation of the oceans. O n the other hand, the daily temporal and a quarter degree spatial resolution of the product can be used to studying the hurricane-ocean interaction of hi gher frequency scenario. Fully tested, these products can serve as a crucial input for data assimilation of oceanic GCMs for forecasting.

This is the older version of the data. A new version GSSTF3 (0.25x0.25 degree) has been released. Note that the preceding GSSTF2c (1x1 degree) was produced based on a two-step approach in the retrieval of surface air humidity (Chou et al. 1997 and Schulz et al. 1993), while GSSTF3 has been produced using an updated one-step algorithm (Bentamy et al. 2003). Users may still feel free to use GSSTF2c, along with GSSTF3, especially for inter-comparison or sensitivity studies. The GSSTF project is currently funded by the NASA MEaSUREs Program, with PI Chung-Lin Shie.